Camping Goodness, or Junk: TP Lamp

11 August, 2009 00:37

A Miguel Melgarejo concept, the Self-powered toilet roll holder Lamp allows you to take your TP to the woods with an enormous smile, as you will now be able to find the perfect spot to better your position, and your bowel.

You would have the ability to remove the lamp and use it for any other purpose as well.

via [Gizmodo via  Miguel Melgarejo via The Design Blog]

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Cache Stats - Geocaching Statistics Application

07 August, 2009 12:50

Cache Stats is the perfect utility to keep track of your Geocaching find statistics. 

I have purchased and use GSAK, however this application is better suited to keep record of your Geocaching finds allowing you to view numerous statistics, graphs, find logs, ratios, and most other data that can be generated by importing your finds Pocket Query (Geocaching.com membership required) into this computer program.

Here are a couple screen-shots of Cache Stats 3.0

 

 

What has interested myself the most to utilize this application was its ability to generate an HTML output with graphs and images of your Geocaching find statistics.  You can find my current export here: http://journeys.geo-jots.com/page/content/stats   For the purpose of an example within this post, here is the HTML output as of the day of this post:

Myside's Geocaching Find Statistics

My Cache Stats as of 6/26/2009 (Generated by CacheStats 3.0. Get your own stats at www.logicweave.com)

Cache Finds
Total Found:	84 (# found/attended logs)	Find Rate:	0.209 per day (1.5 per week, 76 per year)
Caches:	84 (# unique caches visited)	Avg. difficulty / terrain:	1.94 / 1.68
# Archived:	7 (8%)	FTFs:	(unknown)
Avg. in 1 day:	1.3	Oldest Cache:	Good Things Come In 3's (GCEB95 placed 3/23/2003)
Most in 1 day:	5 (8/13/2008)	Most in 1 month:	16 (8/2008)

Days Cached
Total days cached:	63 (every 6.4 days or 15.7%)	Most consecutive days with a find:	4 (10/27/2008 - 10/30/2008)
Most in 1 month:	9 (8/2008)	Most consecutive days without a find:	43 (6/25/2009 - 8/6/2009)

History
Year	Total Found	Rate	Days Cached / Frequency
2008	54	0.295	38 / every 4.8 days
2009	30	0.137	25 / every 8.8 days

Milestones
Number	Date	Cache	# Days between
#1	7/1/2008	Perrot Sunset Cache

Size Breakdown Size # Found Percentage Micro 32 38.1 Regular 30 35.7 Small 18 21.4 Not chosen 3 3.6 Large 1 1.2

Type Breakdown Type # Found Percentage Traditional Cache 72 85.7 Multi-cache 5 6.0 Mystery 4 4.8 Event Cache 2 2.4 Letterbox Hybrid 1 1.2

Difficulty Breakdown Difficulty # Found Percentage 1 18 21.4 1.5 25 29.8 2 12 14.3 2.5 14 16.7 3 10 11.9 3.5 3 3.6 4 2 2.4 4.5 0 0.0 5 0 0.0

Terrain Breakdown Terrain # Found Percentage 1 15 17.9 1.5 38 45.2 2 20 23.8 2.5 10 11.9 3 0 0.0 3.5 0 0.0 4 1 1.2 4.5 0 0.0 5 0 0.0

Difficulty / Terrain Combinations

Terrain Difficulty    1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 1 11 7 - - - - - - - 1.5 1 16 3 4 - - 1 - - 2 - 5 6 1 - - - - - 2.5 - 5 7 2 - - - - - 3 2 2 4 2 - - - - - 3.5 1 2 - - - - - - - 4 - 1 - 1 - - - - - 4.5 - - - - - - - - - 5 - - - - - - - - -   21 out of 81 combinations found

Locations
US States (5):	WI (64), WY (6), MN (10), NV (1), IL (3)
Countries (1):	United States (84)

(map from world66.com)

 

via [http://www.geocachingonline.com/]

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HOWTO: Make a Hanging Geocache Container

06 August, 2009 18:53

Most everyone has their own way of creating a container to hide as a Geocache.  Although no way is best, I will show here how I made a Cache container using a bottle, such as a vitamin container, or film canister, a bracket for a computer expansion slot (just take a short drive down your street and you are sure to find an old computer in the dump), and some duck tape touched up with green camouflage paint.

Here is what the computer bracket looks like.  It covers the slots on the back of your computer.

Next use a plyers to create a second 90 degree angle at the top end of the bracket.  Here is a before and after picture.

Now take the metal bracket and duct tape the flat surfaced end to the Cache container bottle of your choice securing it tightly to withstand nature's furry.  After the bracket is tightly secured, use green or black paint to make the Geocache hide camouflaged.

And their you go, you have a Geocache container you may hang from a tree or any other clever item you choose to place your Cache.  Here is a picture of the finished product.

Edited for comment:  I used a hot glue gun and applied it to the flush end of the bracket and secured it to the container before using duct tape.  I will assume if you apply the tape with great care and strength that this is not needed.  However, you never know the rigors that the cache may go through and this adds extra protection in the case the container was pulled on to retrieve it.

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Garmin GPS - Source Code & Platform

04 August, 2009 10:06

moved from http://myspew.com/

Garmin, one of the big players in GPS (global positioning system) devices and applications has released the Linux source code for their Nuvi 8xx and Nuvi 5xxx-series devices.

The source code hints that the Linux version of these Garmin series devices is linux-2.6.17.7 and are configured to use 64MB of ram.

Here is a full list of libraries, applications and dependencies for the released source:

BSD: fontconfig-2.4.2 libogg-1.1 libpcap-0.9.3 libtheora-0.9+1.0alpha7 libvorbis-1.0.1 speex-1.1.7 tremor-20041119 BSD+GPL: flac-1.2.1 ppp-2.4.3 BSD-X: libfontenc-1.0.4 libxcalibrate-0.0+git20070607 libxcursor-1.1.8 libxfixes-4.0.3 libxfont-1.2.8 libxrandr-1.2.1 libxrender-0.9.2 libxsettings-client-0.10 xrandr-1.2.0 BSL: boost-1.33.1 bzip2: bzip2-1.0.2 freetype: freetype-2.1.10 GPL: alsa-lib-1.0.14 alsa-plugins-1.0.13 alsa-utils-1.0.14 apmd-3.2.2 base-files-3.0.14 base-passwd-3.5.9 blob-1.13-daisy-2.80 bluez-libs-3.4 bluez-utils-3.4 busybox-1.01 dbus-1.1.2+cvs20070620 dbus-glib-0.74 dpkg-1.13.24 gcc-cross-4.1.2 gconf-dbus-2.10.0+svn20061219 gdbm-1.8.3 gnome-common-2.4.0 gnome-mime-data-2.4.2 gnome-vfs-2.16.3 gnupg-1.4.2.2 initscripts-1.0 ipkg-0.99.154 ipkg-link-1.6+cvs20050404 kexec-tools-1.101 libid3tag-0.15.1b libmatchbox-1.9 libtool-1.5.24 libxkbfile-1.0.4 libxv-1.0.3 linux-daisy-2.6.17.7-daisy-2.80 linux-libc-headers-2.6.20 lzo-1.08 makedevs-1.0.0 matchbox-wm-1.2+svn20070417 module-init-tools-3.2.2 netbase-4.21 prelink-20061027 psplash-0.0+svn20070529 readline-4.3 settings-daemon-0.0+svn20070728 shared-mime-info-0.16 sysfsutils-2.0.0 sysvinit-2.86 tinylogin-1.4 udev-103 update-alternatives-cworth-0.99.154 update-modules-1.0 update-rc.d-0.7 wireless-tools-29 wpa-supplicant-0.6.3 xserver-kdrive-common-0.1 xserver-nodm-init-1.0 GPL+LGPL: foinse-tag-indexer-0.0.9 libgcrypt-1.2.3 libgpg-error-1.0 libsigc++-2.0-2.0.6 jpeg: jpeg-6b LGPL: atk-1.10.3 foinse-0.23.84 foinse-theme-0.5.96 garmin-audio-service-0.7.23 gconfmm-2.14.1 geoclue-0.9 glib-2.0-2.12.11 glibc-2.5 glibmm-2.12.10 gnutls-1.6.3 gst-plugins-bad-0.10.5 gst-plugins-base-0.10.14 gst-plugins-good-0.10.6 gst-pulse-0.9.4 gstreamer-0.10.14 gtk+-2.10.12 gtk-doc-1.0 gtkmm-2.10.10 libexif-0.6.16 libsdl-image-1.2.3 libsdl-mixer-1.2.6 libsdl-ttf-2.0.3 libsdl-x11-1.2.9 libsndfile1-1.0.16 pango-1.16.4 pulseaudio-0.9.5.17 qt-automake-0.0.20 speechrec-0.9.2 startup-notification-0.8 texttospeech-0.7.2 tslib-1.0 LGPL+MPL: cairo-1.4.8 cairomm-1.2.4 libpng: libpng-1.2.26 MIT: beecrypt-3.1.0 curl-7.16.2 dropbear-0.49 expat-2.0.0 ipkg-collateral-1.0 libatomics-ops-1.2 libxml2-2.6.26 modutils-collateral-1.0 ncurses-5.4 popt-1.7 xdpyinfo-1.0.2 xmodmap-1.0.2 xserver-kdrive-1.3.0.0 MIT-X: bigreqsproto-1.0.2 calibrateproto-0.0+git20070607 compositeproto-0.3.1 damageproto-1.1.0 diet-x11-1.1.1 dmxproto-2.2.2 fixesproto-4.0 fontcacheproto-0.1.2 fontsproto-2.0.2 inputproto-1.4.1 kbproto-1.0.3 libdmx-1.0.2 libice-1.0.3 libsm-1.0.2 libxau-1.0.3 libxdmcp-1.0.2 libxext-1.0.3 libxft-2.1.12 libxi-1.1.0 libxinerama-1.0.2 libxmu-1.0.3 libxp-1.0.0 libxt-1.0.5 libxtst-1.0.1 libxxf86dga-1.0.1 libxxf86misc-1.0.1 libxxf86vm-1.0.1 printproto-1.0.3 randrproto-1.2.1 recordproto-1.13.2 renderproto-0.9.2 resourceproto-1.0.2 scrnsaverproto-1.1.0 util-macros-1.1.5 videoproto-2.2.2 xcmiscproto-1.1.2 xextproto-7.0.2 xf86bigfontproto-1.1.2 xf86dgaproto-2.0.2 xf86miscproto-0.9.2 xf86vidmodeproto-2.2.2 xineramaproto-1.1.2 xinit-1.0.3 xproto-7.0.10 xtrans-1.0.3 openssl: openssl-0.9.7g OSL: elfutils-0.108 PD: modutils-initscripts-1.0 sqlite3-3.3.7 various: liboil-0.3.9 xrdb: xrdb-1.0.3 zlib: zlib-1.2.3

According to a blog by Henri Bergius, Gnome mobile (GMAE) might be its desktop environment. This includes C, C++, API's for features such as bluetooth, and other subsets of GMAE, and a standard Gnome GTK graphical toolkit.

nuvi8xx-v2.xx-sources/
|
+-- GPL/
|    |
|    +-- linux-daisy-2.6.17.7-daisy-2.xx
|         |
|         +-- linux-daisy-2.6.17.7-daisy-2.xx.orig.tar.bz2
|         +-- linux-daisy-2.6.17.7-daisy-2.xx.diff.tar.bz2
|
+-- LGPL/
|    |
.    .
.    .
.    .

The source code is available here:

http://developer.garmin.com/linux/ 

• nüvi 8xx Series
• nüvi 5xxx Series

For example, the Nuvi 800 has a base set of these operating system applications and environments:

• gnome 2.4.0
• gnome-vfs-2.16.3
• xserver-kdrive-common-0.1
• busybox-1.01
• tinylogin-1.4
• alsa
• blueZ
• matchbox window manager
• geoclue-0.9

---

I use Trimble's Outdoors Platinum Java application for Geocaching and outback hiking and camping which is available for various cell phones.

Here are some features of this edition of this GPS navigation system:

• plan routes and trips using nationwide high resolution (1:24,000) topographic, aerial, or street maps
• create your own trips by modifying trips posted by other outdoor enthusiasts on trimbleoutdoors.com
• add notes and pictures to your trip from your PC or digital camera
• share trips with friends and family online
• use your cell phone as a recreational GPS receiver
• navigate with a digital compass
• display speed, heading, altitude and latitude/longitude coordinate readout
• track your route with scale information for creating a bread crumb trail
• mark waypoints and navigate to waypoints
• input notes and pictures into your trips from your PC and digital camera
• wirelessly download trips, routes and waypoints to your cell phone

AND the platinum version includes these extra capabilities:

• enjoy all the features and benefits of Trimble Outdoors Gold, plus
• wirelessly download topographic, aerial and street maps to your phone (see the list of supported phones here)
• wirelessly insert notes into trip from your cell phone
• wirelessly insert pictures into trips from your cell phone (requires the use of a camera phone)

Resources used:

1. http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS8827997755.html
2. http://developer.garmin.com/linux/
3. http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/AboutGoldPlatinum.aspx

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Wisconsin DNR Contact via Live Web Chat

04 August, 2009 10:02

moved from http://myspew.com/

Lostby7 posted an announcement on the Wisconsin Geocaching Association (WGA) website with an alternative way to contact, or ask a question, live from a Wisconsin DNR customer service representative on the web.  Here is the link:

http://dnr.wi.gov/chat/

Way to go DNR!  This makes asking simple questions about Wisconsin's natural resources and services just a click away.  Handy.

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